Is this the real life

Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

I remember when our family got our first colour TV.  It was 1975 and Bohemian Rhapsody was number 1.  The set was hired from Radio Rentals in Salisbury and delivered to our home just 2 miles from Stonehenge.

It was pre-tuned to pick up all the available broadcast channels. That was a grand total of three - BBC1, BBC2 and ITV (a second ITV channel, Channel 4, was still 7 years away).  The TV stations all closed down every evening with a stirring rendition of "God Save The Queen", to be followed by white noise and an incessant whine.  Next day when the TV started up again we sometimes had many hours of the 'test card', used by TV engineers to tune the set in when there was no actual programme broadcasting on the frequency.  On BBC2, that may well have been after lunch.

 A 22 inch TV circa 1975, complete with test card transmission  

How things have changed.  My kids are now much the same age as I was then but their multimedia experience is from a different time and space.  They see the 1975 TV scene as pretty lame.  Jump forward to 2013 and their family TV is a full high definition LCD, connected directly to the internet via a computer router, replete with digital video recorder, surround sound, Blu-ray and various games consoles.  It has quite a few more channels, many beamed in from distant parts of the world.  There are more remote controls on the coffee table than my wife can cope with (although funnily enough the kids never seem to have any trouble working out what each one does).

I don't know what the standard size TV is that people buy now but I guess a 39 -42 inch would probably be de rigueur. I could have splashed out on a 55" model but I thought I might have been pushing my luck to smuggle that one into the lounge so I got a middle of the range 42". So, I've ended up with a TV twice as big as the one I grew up watching.  I'd have thought that was reward enough.  Not so.

Sharp has recently released an LED television aimed at the consumer market that has a 90 inch display.  It's certainly not the biggest TV out there but as a consumer device for you to put in your front room that is a serious amount of display real estate.  I'll be checking it out in store next time I'm out and about.  This is something I just have to see.

What can I say?

Sharp unveils 90" Aquos LED TV (Engadget)

When a girl and a clown ruled the airwaves (Guardian UK)

South West England Vintage Television Museum